The monitoring of labor by telemetry

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Abstract
Telemetry and conventional cardiotocography were compared by monitoring the labor of 60 patients with an uneventful pregnancy and delivery in the 38th-42nd wk of pregnancy; 31 patients were monitored by telemetry and 29 by cardiotocography. The patients were matched for age (.+-. 5 yr), duration of pregnancy (.+-. 7 days) and parity (I or II). The husband attended labor and delivery in 42% of the cases in the telemetry group and in 59% of the cases in the control group. Induction of labory by amniotomy was performed in 32% of the cases in the telemetry group and in 24% of the cases in the cardiotocography group. The patients monitored subjective pain every 1/2 h during the opening phase. The telemetric patients were encouraged to sit or walk during the 1st stage. No maternal or fetal complications occurred. All infants were born in good condition with APGAR scores .gtoreq. 7 recored at 1 and 5 min. There were 4 operative deliveries in the telemetry group and 5 in the control group. Indications for these were maternal or uterine exhaustion, with the exception of 2 control patients where fetal asphyxia was suspected. The duration of the 1st stage of labor did not differ significantly between the telemetry and the cardiotocography groups. The telemetric patients received less analgesics than the controls, but this difference was not significant. Despite less analgesia in the telemetry group, the secundiparas of the telemetry group experienced significantly less (P < 0.01) labor pain than the controls. The secundiparas of the telemetry group considered the present labor less painful than the previous one significantly more often than the controls. Among the primiparous patients there was no difference in the amount of pain experienced by the patients.

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